Last

night, after work, in the midst of some Arctic air moving through the Central Texas area, I went for a run. Going for a run, even in cold weather, isn’t news, particularly on this blog. The motivation for heading out, however, was important to me.

With some personal family health issues coming about rather abruptly, lots of thoughts and emotions have been swirling around in my head. Around midday at work, after only moderate productivity and firmly stuck in a rut, I decided a run after work was what I needed to clear my head. During this time a pretty serious cold front moved in. We’re talking 20 degrees, feels like single-digits with the wind chill. This cold front is what excited me most about the hopefully cathartic run.

I double-layered shirts and gloves (yes, two pairs of gloves), tights… the whole nine yards (like Friday). I left the iPod at home and started off into the wind. My goal was to clear my head, and I figured the best way to do that is to put myself through some uncomfortable exhaustion. The wind was particularly accommodating to my plan, numbing my face pretty quickly (read: immediately). Even my water bottle started dispensing crushed ice towards the end of the run. It was reminiscent of DC.

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p>And the run did the trick. As I finished up my head was clearer and my body was spent. It’s a great escape to sort things out and it’s a good feeling to know that I can use running as a release. Things are better now.